Nightmares
by BambiiGirl
Summary: Gladio is woken by Noctis crying in his sleep. The prince is plagued by nightmares and Gladio wishes to comfort him. one-shot *not shipping*


_I do not own any characters. All are owned by Square Enix._

 _This is not meant to be a ship-fic, just some cute friendship fluff stuff. :P_

 _I would appreciate the comments and reviews! Please enjoy the story! thank you! :3_

 _-Bambii_

Dad... don't. .."

It was a week and miserable sounding whine. Not very loud at all but it still disturbed the dark haired wall of flesh that was gladiolus. The man looked around the tent. It was incredibly dark, not even a sliver of light was visible from the world outside the tent.

"don't leave me... don't die. . dad you can't die, not now"

Noctis said in a soft but pained voice. Gladio ran his hands across the bottom of the tent in search for his flashlight. Once he found it he picked up and switched in on. The flashlights warm glow cast shadows away from the tent and drowned it in a dim light. Gladio looked over at the sleeping figure in the blue sleeping bag next to his. He sat up-right and rubbed his eyes. Noctis was in his sleeping bag. His body was shaking and Gladio could see his pale cheeks were wet with tears. Another nightmare. This had not been the first according to Ignis.

Noctis had not properly grieved for the loss of his Father. Though his father and Noctis didn't seem close in the recent years. Gladio knew Noctis had a heart of gold and cared deeply though he didn't always show it. Gladio got to his knee's, ready to stand up and quietly head over to the other tent. Gladio felt for Noctis and wanted to help. But he was more a physical being. He feared he would hinder rather than help the prince. Prompto would be much better suited for this. Maybe him and Prompto could switch tents, thought Gladio.

"Don't leave me...I need you.."

Gladio looked back at the whimpering heap in the sleeping bag. Gladio knew Noctis was just talking in his sleep. But gladio's heart dropped to his gut. For a split second it was like those words were directed to him. In fact the words shot him in the heart as if it were a speeding bullet. Gladio clenched his teeth together. What was he to do? Waking prompto would have been the best but he knew he would feel guilty in the end. "Buck up, Gladio" he muttered to himself. After all, He was the king's shield. It was his sworn duty to protect Noctis from what ever came their way. Be it daemons, beasts, Magitek assassins and yes..even nightmares.

Gladio slowly moved across the uneven surface of the tent on his knee's towards Noctis. Noctis was tear stricken and whimpering like a puppy. Gladio couldn't help but feel his own heartbreak at the sight of his friend..his king..his brother in so much pain. Whatever the nightmare Noctis was having was. It was bad. It was as if Noctis's sub conscious mind was attacking him over and over and poor Noctis was to weak to fight it off. Gladio reached his arm over to the shaking figure and placed his hand gently on his shoulder. Noctis didn't wake at his touch, his slumber was far to deep.

Noctis was the hardest person to wake up anyways. Gladio thought back for a moment to a time when things were simple. When gladio was first training Noctis in combat he would try to get him up to train. More than half the time he would be dragging Noctis out of bed by his ankles, forcing him to leave his soft bed and warm blankets behind. More than once he literally dragged a young noctis across the slick and smooth floored halls of his home in Insomnia. Even now he could see the guards snickering as Gladio dragged the bedraggled and half asleep young prince across the floor, still in pajamas to the training room. Noctis had stopped shaking, Gladio guessed the warmth of his hand comforted him some how. Gladio shifted himself a bit closer. Close enough now to see a continuous stream of tears sliding down Noctis's cheeks and down his chin. The pillow underneath becoming sodden with tears.

Though in the back of his mind Gladio still considered getting up and gathering Prompto, he placed his other hand on Noctis. Gladio cleared his throat, witch crackled from the dryness in the air. He gently shook him "Hey Noct..." Gladio said. But Noctis only let out a pitiful cry. Noctis's face was twisted in emotional agony. "Noctis" gladio said louder but still attempting to be gentle. Again he called his name and patted his shoulder "Wake up..Come on Noct.." Said gladio with both his hands on Noctis's shoulder. Noctis's eye flew open as he sat up and feverishly wiped the tears from his face. Noctis sat with his head in his hands "Sorry" he muttered. "Hey..."Gladio started" Don't worry about it... your going through a lot" Gladio said placing his hand gently on Noctis's back. He could feel his friends heart beat hard and fast. It was working overtime. That nightmare was probably worse than fighting demons in real life. Though Gladio was still unsure of how to comfort him, he had to try.

Noctis looked over at him with puffy and bloodshot eyes. Gladio's expression softened further realizing just how much pain Noctis was in. How had he not seen it before? He thought. Gladio put his whole arm around Noctis And brought his brother in close. To Gladio's Surprise Noctis didn't shy away from the sudden burst of affection. Instead, he seemed to welcome it. Noctis sniffled "You don't think I'm weak and pathetic do you...?" Noctis said meeting Gladio's gaze. Noctis looked as if he was still holding back a whole waterfall full of tears. Noctis was a ticking time bomb, he had held it together so well for the most part, but Gladio knew one person could only hold the waves of emotional turmoil back for so long before detonating. Gladio traced back the last few days. Noctis did say something along the lines of "The only thing's that are keeping me from falling apart are the three of you and the fact that hopefully soon, I can be with Luna.. My luna" to witch Prompto made a girlish "Squee" sounding noise before commenting on how cute that was. But maybe that was it, he was trying to hide his grief, he was falling apart.

Gladio hugged him "Noct.. Its okay to fall apart. Your not week and certainly not pathetic..all of us have been through a lot. But you the most. We lost our home and you...lost your father. And its okay to cry and be angry and have nightmares. You've got the right to...So let it out" Gladio said,patting his friend on the back. Noctis started crying again, this time in loud sobs and heavy breathes. The tears came down in sheets like heady rainfall. Between breaths Noctis spoke "He..knew...He Knew and didn't tell me.. he just let me go...I should..have said goodbye but... I thought id be back..with Luna..and all of you..and" Noctis was breathless now as he griped Gladio's black shirt in a tight fist. Gladio wasn't used to this, he didn't really know what to do or what to say. He felt noctis's sadness and anger go right threw him.

The emotional stuff was exhausting. But Gladio figured that this was what Noctis need, to just let it out. After several moment's the heavy sobs slowed and his breathing returned to normal. Noctis sniffed and sat up straight. Gladio still remained with his arm around Noctis. Gladio cleared his throat to speak again "Noct... It's alright..Its gonna be okay. As for King Regis...None of us knew what was going to happen. He wanted you to see him as a Father not a King. He knew you would probably be safer away from what went down in Insomnia. He was protecting you. I think any of us, even Luna would have done that for you. He wanted you to be happy, he wanted to see his son get married.. he sent you away because in his heart he knew it was for the best. He knew you weren't immune to danger, you hadn't been your whole life. But he wanted to protect you from this, from this chaos for just a little while longer if he could". Noctis looked up at him with a tired smile "Who knew Mr. Angry wall of meat could be so insightful for a change" he said with a cheeky grin "Gladio returned his smile and smacked him upside the head playfully, before he returned his arm to his side. Noctis sniffled again "But I know your right...and i'm grateful that he wanted to protect me.. I just wish I could have some how found out and saved him or..something.. I don't know. I just wish I knew what he knew. I wish I could have said goodbye..properly" Said Noctis his smile had faded again.

Gladio swallowed hard. He could understand that, not getting to say goodbye was probably the thing hurting him most. Gladio cleared his dry throat yet again " Noctis.. we can not change our past, you know this. But we have to keep going. You are the king now, and we are gonna have to go back and re-build whatever is left. You will Marry Luna. Prompto, ignis and myself will be here to help you. You won't ever be alone threw this". Noctis scoffed "You sound like Ignis, you've been around him to long" Said noct, the grin returning to his face. Gladio rolled his eyes "It looks like we will be leaving to Altissia soon and you'll get to be with Luna, I know you miss her and that's part of all this. Luna would have been the one to comfort you threw all of this and make sure that you were okay. Gladio paused to shift back over to his own sleeping bag :You know, shes a lucky girl to have you, your strong, smart and have a big heart, even though you don't think that of yourself. I see all that, I know Iggy and Prompto do to. Once we get there i'm sure things will look up. We gotta solve this once and for all. Those damn imperials have to go down eventually" Gladio said, his usual tough guy attitude coming back as he layed back in his sleeping bag.

Noctis Laid back as well, his hands crossed behind his head. Noctis tured to Gladio again "Thank you Gladio.. I don't know what id do without you" Noctis said. "Don't get all sappy on me now. Try to get some sleep. If you don't you'll act worse then a grumpy toddler." Gladio replied closing his eyes. Noctis closed his eyes, hoping to sleep without the nightmare this time. Gladio smiled as he looked over at Noct again. Gladio felt better knowing Noctis had at least let out a bit of the pain.

Gladio felt exhausted though. It was definitely more of Prompts thing. All the same, Gladio was happy he was there to comfort him. Who know Prince Noctis was such a softy. Gladio smirked "Guess I'm a big softy to..on the inside" he muttered, switching the yellow flashlight off and allowing the dark night to take over the tent again. But to Gladios surprise the world outside had already gotten lighter. Gladio closed his eyes, hoping to get some more sleep before breakfast.


End file.
